A New Goal
by FireFalcon786
Summary: Naruto, having left the village seeks an occupation. With ninja skills as his only talent, a bounty hunter seems like the perfect choice.
1. BlackLotus

Disclaimer : don't own Naruto or anything to do with.

**Chapter 1**

_**Blacklotus**_

"Help! Please somebody help me!" cried a woman as she ran down a particularly long alley way just to turn into a dead end, as tears streamed down her face. Echoing footsteps could be heard coming down the same alleyway before a middle-aged man came into view holding a dagger in his left hand with a long scratch mark running down his right cheek which was fresh.

"Now why did ya have to go and do a thing like that sweetheart, just give me all the money and valuables you got... RIGHT NOW!"

"No! Just leave me alone, "pleaded the young woman closing her eyes and awaiting her fate.

"Ungh! Who..." said the man as he breathed his last before slowly slumping on to the ground. The woman, who slowly reopened her eyes began to tremble, not because of the cold alleyway that she had her back slumped against but rather due to the newcomer, as his gaze seemingly penetrated through her with his cold stare. Slowly, as if calculating, his gaze wandered over the woman's body searching for injuries before looking satisfied, turned on his heel and began walking off. It took a moment for the woman to get her bearings back as to what had just happened, while she sat staring at the continuous stream of blood, dripping from the now dead man in front of her. Suddenly she stood up shakily on her two legs shouting out,

"Wait, I didn't catch your name?" The man stopped, long enough to turn his head, "Strider," before continuing on and blurring out of sight.

* * *

"Did you hear? An A-rank missing nin from Cloud fell to an unknown hunter in a cloak."

"That guy from Cloud? That's hard to believe, that missing nin had a dangerous bloodline limit, one that could have easily wiped out most high level ninja's. But for just an A-ranking in the bingo book he sure had a high bounty, twenty eight million ryo's hard to pass up."

The two chuunin ranked nin from the Mist village sat conversing in a bar off the east coast of Wave country, as a set of eyes watched them intently. A snort brought the eyes to land on a young girl sat in front sipping some coffee.

"I thought I told you to stop drinking that junk its not good for ya." The girl just shrugged her shoulders, "You did, but I can't help liking it, it keeps me from getting cranky on a morning."

"Whatever… eavesdropping on people always seems to be very benefiting to us, especially when you eavesdrop on a couple of rookies who can't keep their voices down."

"Even though it's rude to, and very un-lady like I might add."

"Like I'm a 'lady'," came the reply, "But what those two are talking about, If the news spread that fast then that old geezer may have caught our scent and soon begin trailing it again." The female opposite nodding, "Well lets assume the worst has already happened and move from this place," the girl's blonde companion turned her own gaze back to the two chuunin still talking loudly, "Pay, and then we'll go and collect our tech." The younger dark haired female gulped down the rest of the coffee, smiled knowingly and stood up to go pay the bill, while her blonde haired partner went to gather "research".

The young blonde addressed the two chuunin, "Excuse me," causing them both to turn towards her. She smiled in greeting, " I couldn't help overhearing your conversation about this cloaked fellow, would you mind telling me anything you know about him, and perhaps a name," the girl looked at the chuunin with wide eyes and gave the so called innocent look to them. The chuunin looked at her warily like weighing the chances that she was an enemy nin, unconsciously earning them points in the young females eyes.

"Well were not sure," replied the one to the right as he sighed, "He hasn't been given any official names as of yet, but people are starting to call him the 'Black Lotus' as he suddenly appears from thin air, eliminates his target and then vanishes again without a trace. He's efficient at what he does; killing people for a living, but for some reason is supposedly very picky about who he hunts. He's a well known bounty hunter, even though he's a complete mystery, I'd say that pretty much sums the guy up."

"Thank you for the information, I very much would like to meet this hunter, I'm very interested in strong men…"smiling she turned and left, her dark haired friend following her out of the bar.

* * *

"I'm getting too old for this," stated an old man dressed in formal robes as he shuffled through some papers on his desk. Sighing he pressed a button, 

"Send them in," he said to the receptionist, and slumped back in his chair as the doors to the room were thrown open, none too unceremoniously. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Tsunade-san, Jiraiya-san."

"Cut the crap old man and tell me where he is!" demanded Tsunade, her temper increasing by the second.

"Where who is?" said the man as Tsunade began to visibly seethe, much to the old man's amusement, but before Tsunade could ring his neck Jiraiya intervened with a serious look on his face. Both Sannin looked liked they'd been through hell and back with hardly any sleep, due to the dark rings around there eyes and if one sniffed carefully enough could also detect faint hints of alcohol stuck to their clothing.

"We heard you had reports of his sightings... and maybe even his last known whereabouts," said Jiraiya, as the old man surveyed them both with a cold glance, "We don't know what his motives were, but he did help in eliminating the enemy reinforcements that were waiting to ambush the platoon sent in for the mission. I also heard that he had an accomplice, but it is yet unknown who."

"Is that it?" Tsunade looked about ready to explode, "No. We also received reports on him in Wave country, not too long ago, where he seemingly helped a few villagers apparently, other than that we don't know his exact whereabouts," ended the old man as his eyes took in the two relieved faces in front of him, and he began smiling, "I believe I understand now, why you too came yourselves after you received my letter, yes, I had a feeling that this man was not a normal person, he's definitely a ninja, one from your village," continued the old man while smirking as the two shocked expressions came into full view. Both Tsunade and Jiraiya opened their mouths to speak but found that they were unable to form coherent words at that paricular moment, "Taking in your expressions I believe I'm right... I have one question, what is this Uzumaki Naruto to the both of you."

**Short first chapter just to see if the stories worth writing.**


	2. The Outlaws

Disclaimer : don't own Naruto or anything to do with.

**Chapter 2**

_**The Outlaws**_

"I can't believe that brat took on a whole anbu unit," said Jiraiya as both he and Tsunade exited the old man's building and started walking down the street.

"He's improved a lot, I suppose its to be expected," nodded Tsunade as they rounded a corner heading for a certain district. "It was only a matter of time before he caught up to us."

"If he'd stayed then you could have finally made the idiots dream come true."

A sad smile formed on Tsunade's face as a memory of the blonde flashed in her mind.

**_Flashback _**

_"I'm definitely going to become Hokage one day because being the Hokage is my dream!" _

**_End Flashback _**

"It's been too long since he left, without him the village seems to have dulled slightly," Tsunade sighed while coming to stop in front of a small bar, "It's as if his presence always brightened the path up for Konoha."

"Don't worry," said Jiraiya placing a hand on her shoulder as he lead her inside, "If I learned one thing about that kid, it's that he won't leave his precious people behind, that includes both you and me,"

"I hope your right, Jiraiya."

* * *

Two females were packing their things up quickly from a hotel room, as they heard a scream from outside. Looking out the window they saw a small girl being picked up and thrown across the dirt as a woman still screaming pleaded for a man to stop. 

"I told you there would be consequences for not paying up lady," said the man as he advanced towards her drawing his sword.

"I said I would pay when I had the money, I don't have any money right now, can't you give me a few more days, please I'll pay up…"

"Shut it woman, you had your chance, you know what happens when you make the boss wait," interrupted the man as he now stood over the woman and raised his sword, aiming to cleave her in two, "Any last words…"

"Yeah, nighty night," replied a voice behind him as a vase full of water smashed into the back of his head, producing an instant TKO.

"Hi, nice day," stated the blonde haired girl, extending a hand for the young woman now flat on the floor, taken by surprise with someone smashing a vase over one of _those _guys.

"Are you insane!" screamed the woman, jumping to her feet and ignoring the outstretched hand, as she turned to apparently look for the little girl, whom she found was no where to be seen.

"Excuse me," called a voice behind her, causing her to turn and look straight at another dark haired girl holding the child in her arms. Running over, her first thought being to take the girl and scram, but realising that the child seemed to be sleeping, caused her to come to a halt.

"But, how?" was the question asked, as the little girl held next to no marks on her body or face, it was as if nothing even happened to her.

The dark haired girl walked over and handed the woman the now sleeping child, "I just healed her Oba-san, she's resting now, please try to be more careful, she could have lost her life if I didn't treat her immediately." The woman was at a loss for words as the blonde walked over,

"Who is this guy, I know he's no ninja, but why do _you_ owe him money?" The woman just turned her gaze to her for a second and then lowered it to her feet sighing heavily.

"They're known as the Outlaws, and strive only for money. Until recently they barely entered this town, but as of recent have come in more frequently, terrorizing some of the citizens living here. Most of us are scared that our families may be hurt, and therefore we just do as they ask, so as not to cause trouble."

"Well, why not ask for help from a nearby ninja village, the closest would be Konoha if I'm not mistaken," supposed the blonde haired girl as she looked at a house behind the woman.

"Because, if we had tried they would have just intercepted us, they keep tabs on all the villagers and happenings within the village, they would have known if we had attempted to contact a ninja village. Their leader is supposedly a high class missing nin that was famed because he loved to kill people for the fun of it. Therefore the penalty would have been death, not only for us but for those that have been captured by them as well. Therefore our only hope was that a ninja might have come into the town undetected by the them, and in that way we could ask a nearby village for help."

"Hmmm… I must know, do you have any idea how to directly run into these Outlaws?" asked the blonde haired girl as she now stared at another house directly opposite herself.

The girl in the woman's arms mumbled something in a low voice, which went unheard, "If you head east from here you'll come to the coast, from there look for a large building with a clock on it, that's where you can find them," said the woman as she cradled the child more closely to herself.

"Thank you Oba-san, we appreciate you telling us this," said the dark haired girl as she bowed her head.

"It's all right, you saved my… Hey! Wait a second; you don't mean to tell me that you're going to that place all by yourselves, you can't it's too…"

A door opened as the woman was talking, and a young lady stepped out, "Nee-Chan who are you talking to," causing the elder woman to turn and regard her younger sister with a 'have you gone crazy!' look.

"I'm just talking to these two young ladies they…" she turned back again to the two girls in question but found herself staring at empty spaces.

"Like I said, whom were you talking to, yourself?" The older sister sighed heavily, "Never Mind," and turned to walk back inside.

* * *

"Why did we decide to come through here again," whispered a girl as she crawled through a ventilation system within a warehouse. 

"It's the quickest way in without getting detected, so stop complaining."

"I'm not complaining," the girl pouted as she stopped, but her companion kept on going, "Hey wait."

"They have something we need, and since there's a lot of them, we need to eliminate some of them undetected first, before engaging the rest."

"Whatever, don't tell me to stop complaining when we get caught anyway, I still think the front door would have worked fine and besides I thought men always went for the biggest and fla…"

"Shhh," her companion motioned for her to stop, "Were here," he stated slowly as he turned to look through the hole in the ventilation opening. Men in white coats could be seen moving swiftly back and forth through the room. Men wearing forehead protectors stood along each wall in pairs, although they didn't have the same air around them like an experienced nin, they certainly seemed more than capable to guard the warehouse. Four ninja's paced back and forth with the people in white coats watching them like hawks while they worked. All in all, it didn't look that difficult to get in, get what was needed and get out.

"Twelve ninjas, reinforcements should be outside in the halls, looks to be traps on each of the exiting doors, not to mention the alarm that will bring all ninja in the building towards us," analysed the male member of the team.

"Well assuming you're correct, shouldn't we wait for some of the ninja's in the room to leave before going down there?"

"Yes and no. For one we need a distraction, and a big enough one to buy some time, but if we wait too long then we may miss our chance."

"I guess we wait then."

* * *

A clock could be seen situated high up as both girls stood outside a large red-bricked building in front of two large doors. 

"I guess this is the place," said the blonde haired girl as the cloak she was wearing billowed in the wind. The waves continuingly crashed onto the shoreline, becoming larger every time, as they both circled the entire complex before coming stop in the same place where they started.

"Only two ways in, ones the front door, the other being the ventilation shaft," said the blonde looking to her companion, "Which one should we take?"

"I say we go in with a bang." It wasn't a question, as both girls began walking forwards.

* * *

"What was that?" 

"It sounded like an explosion," said one of guards turning to the two ninja nearest to the door, "Go check it out and report back." Both saluted and quickly ran out of the room.

Meanwhile, the two intruders in the ventilation shaft sprung into action as the opening hole was ripped off and both scaled the large drop to the floor without making a sound. With their chakra signatures almost non-existent they split up and began knocking out the ninja's along the walls with surprising speed. With only four ninja's left both regrouped behind a large crate to come up with a plan.

"We have to hurry, they're going to notice the six along the walls are missing," whispered the girl.

"I know just give me a sec…"said her partner as he took on a thinking pose, "_Considering we get rid of these ninja's, we still don't know what all the commotion is about. Nobody, besides an insane person would dare come into this complex, without getting them selves killed, unless… it's someone with a great deal of strength…" _

"What's taking you long?" his partner, bringing him out of his thoughts, rushed forward, "Lets just take them out fast." Before he even moved from his spot, all the people in room were out cold courtesy of his now grinning companion.

"Remind me to never piss you off," muttered the male as he ran a hand through his messy hair, unconsciously making it messier. "Lets just get what we came for and scram," as he quickly walked forward to begin searching.

* * *

Eight men ran towards where the explosion was reported to be. As they continued running smoke could be seen along with dust directly in front of them. 

"That's the main entrance, who would be dumb enough to enter this building?" chuckled one of the men, "It's basically the same as committing suicide." The guy to his right just shrugged as they came to a halt just before they entered the smoke covering the front entrance.

"Come out, we know you're here," called out one them as they all stood ready, with kunai drawn, as two figures could be seen walking towards them very slowly.

"Identify your selves and we may decide to let you live depending on the answer."

"Were really sorry, can't you forgive us Mr ninja," came a very feminine voice from within the smoke as both figures stood out in the open.

"Well well… now what would you fine young ladies be doing blowing up stuff, eh?"

"Oh we were just testing these things given to us by our new friends, they said if we placed these things," waving an explosive tag in front of herself, "On the doors, then they'd give us money for it," explained the blonde haired girl as she put on a cute face.

"I guess you should know not to trust strangers," said one of them, as more ninja's arrived behind them, "Cuff them, we'll take them to the boss, hn, he'll decide what to do with them."

The blonde haired quickly turned to her friend and without moving her lips whispered, "Let's go along with them for now, it could get interesting."

The other girl just shook her head and sighed, _"I should have known you'd say that," _as both her and her friend were handcuffed and dragged along to go and meet the leader.

"No talking, unless you want your heads to be cut off, the boss likes treats, especially those like your selves, he'll make sure you get the correct treatment for coming here uninvited." They reached a room at the far end of a narrow corridor, by now half of the ninja had disappeared as the door opened revealing a large room with a large table in the middle. On closer inspection the table was filled with all sorts of diagrams ranging from building layouts to different chemicals to equations and calculations.

"Ah, the so called intruders," came a voice from above them, as an elevator platform descended downwards, "Leave us," commanded the voice as all the ninja that had escorted them there turned and left.

* * *

Two shadows could be seen darting along the floor of the building as the people they belonged to, ran upside down on the ceiling. 

"I knew I shouldn't have listened to you," came the male voice as an alarm began sounding.

"Like we had a choice, you moron, we would have got caught even if we had taken your route," came the retort as they rushed down a narrow corridor. As they neared the end, one door could be seen as voices erupted from around the corner behind them.

"We take this door, how bad could it be?" The male opened the door to come face to face with a kunai. Reacting on instinct he caught it with two fingers, just before it ripped through his right eye socket.

"Well I believe that answered your question," came the shocked voice of the female as they took in the room's condition. Ninja's were doing battle left right and centre. Four ninja stood out from the rest as they had cloaks on their backs with swords in their hands.

"Shadow clones? What in the worlds going on here?" asked the girl to no one as she saw her teammate rush forward, pulling out his katana that had no guard, cutting a man's head off. Growling to herself she ran into the battle muttering, "Men," before a battle cry ensued from her throat.

The man with his sword having just been unsheathed rushed towards two ninja's, one being the original and the other a clone. The man and his clone had hats placed on their heads as they cleaved through their enemies back to back. A deadly dance with swords, it was done with the grace of an experienced ninja. The two men with hats kept on eliminating enemies as one tried to sneak up on the single male rushing forward, only to end with an elbow to the face and a slice across the midsection, splitting him in two. But as the man neared them he saw something that made a stupid smirk cross his features. The two men with hats spun on the spot, cutting three ninja's in one move as their attention moved to the male with the 'no guard' sword, their eyes widening considerably upon seeing the man's smirking face.

"Well if it isn't the dobe."

* * *

Hears a quick update, for all those people who liked the first chapter. 

Since I'm not gd with pairings, maybe a few ideas for some of the characters could help me? However, I'm still deciding if I should have a pairing.

And lastly the next update will be in just over a week, considering I have college work to finish.


	3. A Broken Soul

Disclaimer: don't own Naruto or anything to do with.

**Chapter 3**

**A Broken Soul**

_(Earlier On)_

"Very nice of you two to drop in like that, but please, next time, knock first," said the man as he turned his face towards the girls, the elevator coming to a stop as he stepped off it.

The girls finally got a good look at the leader of the group and now had their full-undivided attention. His eyes surveyed them cooly as they held a daunting look to them with dark circles underneath, probably due to lack of sleep and a scar could be seen along the right side of his head. He wore a simple shinobi garb with a small scythe strapped to his back, his midnight black hair splayed around his head, as his gloved hands raised into the air as in greeting giving him a casual but deadly appearance at first glance.

"Drop the henge's by the way, you're not fooling anyone here," said the man.

"And here we were thinking it was working too," said the blonde her voice deepening as two pops announced the henge's gone, "Right Konohamaru?"

"You're…" a shocked expression becoming visible on the missing nin's face, "Well whaddya know, it's the bounty hunter everyone's bin talking about," a smirk replacing the expression of a fish in a nano second , as he turned and walked over to the table, rolling up one particularly long scroll.

"I don't think turning your back on an opponent is a wise thing to do," stated Konohamaru, "Isn't that right Ni-Chan."

Konohamaru had grown much taller now and towered at nearly six feet tall, with his trademark scarf hanging around his neck. His attire consisting of a black top, a long brown jacket that went lower than his knees with dark knee length red shorts and simple shinobi footwear. His face unmarred and flawless, held no emotion as he reached for the sword handle on his back.

"That's right," called out Naruto stepping forward and flicking his left thumb up on the sword guard.

Naruto stood two inches higher than Konohamaru with his new appearance being far different to what the boisterous blonde was normally renowned for. Leaving the village changed the entire thought patterns of the young bijuu container, as he knew that survival outside of Konoha meant one thing, and that was to blend in with your surroundings, and with bright orange clothes as your daily ninja wear, one would not have to look far to find the run away Jinchuuriki. Naruto understood what it meant to be a missing nin far quicker than most would gave him credit for as he now stood wearing a beige t-shirt, black combats and black boots. His light brown cape was held loosely around his neck and a simple straw-hat sat situated on his head to block out most of the noticeable bright blonde hair.

The sword slid out slightly as Naruto pushed his thumb higher and began walking forward,

"So, you came for my head did you, well I have to give credit to you kids, you've definitely got guts," the man nodded as he finished rolling the scroll and shoved it inside his jacket turning around once more to come face to face with Naruto.

"We didn't know exactly who you were before, but I'd recognise your face anywhere, we just came to check on this place and see if there was anyone worthy enough to come see… and it looks like we hit the jackpot with you, isn't that right Watanabe-san,"drawled out Naruto.

"So you do know me after all," said the Nin as he smiled looking directly into Naruto's cold blue slits, "I am honoured. My name is Watanabe Shinkai, also known as Death Reaper, formerly listed in the Bingo Book as an S-rank missing nin from the hidden village of Stone, at your service," bowing his head slightly, almost mockingly. The Death Reaper was rumoured to take no prisoners, and showed no mercy slaughtering anyone or anything in his way, whether it be man, woman or child. He was placed as a highly dangerous threat in the bingo book and his 52 million-ryo bounty was nothing to sneeze at. But up until a few years ago he seemingly disappeared without a trace and therefore was taken out of Bingo Book due to him being reported as dead.

Both Naruto and Konohamaru nodded, "My name is Strider," said Naruto, "and this," pointing to Konohamaru, "Is Konohamaru."

"Good, well what can I do for you gentlemen," said the Nin as he motioned with his hand towards the table and some chairs nearby. A click sounded as Naruto sheathed his sword fully and walked along with the others to sit down at the table. The design layouts on the table showed various complexes that looked to have tight security. On closer inspection weak points could be seen including best escape routes and areas where guards could be found. They buildings in which the designs were mostly associated with looked to be large houses, probably that of some important people such as a feudal lord or even a Kage, not that anyone would be daft enough to go up against a Kage. A cough brought the two's attention back to the matter at hand.

"Well now, how can the Death Reaper be of any service to the famed bounty hunter?"

"I was hoping you could help us with something…" started Naruto.

* * *

_(Back to present time)_

"Well if it isn't the dobe."

"Sasuke? What are you doing here?" said Naruto as he and his clone ducked under a lame shuriken barrage and spun around on the spot, throwing one shuriken back that had been caught,

"What do you think one shuriken can do you fool," mouthed off the Nin, as he raised his right arm to catch the oncoming projectile just as one shuriken turned into fifty, impaling the nin everywhere on his body, and causing instant fatality as one struck into his neck, making him drop to the floor like a log.

_"Hmm… it looks like he improved a bit,"_ thought Sasuke as he watched Naruto's clone disappear in a poof as two more poofs sounded behind him, leaving just the original behind.

"Not bad dobe, I was afraid you had rusted over the years, but I must say you're not half bad," said Sasuke as a minor smirk now adorned his fully matured features. The room suddenly quietened down after a scream was heard and then silence followed as a girl appeared next to Sasuke.

"So, you going to introduce me or not Sasuke?" said the girl as she ran a hand through her black hair. Sighing to himself Sasuke shook his head in annoyance before answering,

"Naruto, meet Karin, Karin, meet Naruto, my old team mate," pointing to each one in turn.

"It's nice to meet you Karin-san, but I'm not Naruto, Sasuke Ni-Chan," as Naruto popped out of existence the smoke cleared leaving a very stoic looking Konohamaru in his place.

"Konohamaru? So, the rumours were true after all, you did leave with Naruto four years ago."

"Correct."

"So where's your team mate gone to, where's this Naruto person at?" asked Karin, but seemingly was ignored causing her to get a glint in her left eye.

"I need your help Sasuke Ni-Chan," said Konohamaru as he stared at the ground, which was covered in blood from the battle earlier.

"Hey, I asked where this Naruto person is?"

"Help with what kid?" asked Sasuke looking directly at him.

"Is anyone even listening to me," said Karin in frustration as her left eyebrow began twitching dangerously.

"I need you to…"

"I SAID," WHAM! As two fists ploughed into both males' head's, "WHERE IS NARUTO!" screamed the girl making both males hold their ears from fear of having them burst. A big bruise formed on each male's head as they massaged their noggins to ease the pain. Once again, the male species learned the hard way that no matter how powerful they might be, an enraged female is one creature on this Earth that you don't want to mess with.

"He… he's outside, with the leader of this place, they left through there," said Konohamaru as he pointed to a hole in the ceiling while continuing to rub furiously at his head with the other.

"Well let's go greet him then," said Karin with a sweet smile as she leaped upwards and straight through the exit hole in the roof.

"Well kid, I know I don't have to tell you this but like Nara Shikamaru likes to say, 'troublesome', all women are just plain troublesome."

"Come on what's the hold up!" shouted down Karin as she poked her head over the edge to look at the two below. Shaking his head Konohamaru together with Sasuke both leapt from the room and out into the open air. The wind hit them hard on the rooftop as they landed with the waves crashing against the coastline even more ferociously than before.

"Karin, which way?" asked Sasuke as he handed her a leaf hiteate with a large scratch across it, which she instantly concentrated on.

"He's over there," said Konohamaru and Karin simultaneously as they both lowered their fingers and turned to stare at each other, "Let's go," said both of them again, "Stop copying me," yelled both of them.

"Enough you two. How far away is he?" asked Sasuke.

"Approximately 2km, in that direction," said Karin pointing along the coastline towards, a huge cliff, "I think they're on that cliff over there Sasuke." Sasuke activated his sharingan just as a huge amount of chakra was released, which was coming from the cliff, as a dreaded killing intent made filled the air. Sasuke, knowing what was about to happen next turned to the other two to find Karin frozen to the spot as she visibly began trembling, fear etched deep within her eyes. Sasuke, knowing he hadn't much time turned to Konohamaru to find him wide eyed, but other than that okay.

"Let's go kid," said Sasuke shaking the teen from his daze as he nodded a yes and both took off towards the cliff.

* * *

"You're a fool, you should have taken my offer when you had the chance, now that you know about it, the only thing left for you to do for me is…DIE!"

An explosion signalled the awakening of the Kyuubi and its blood red chakra as a one tailed Naruto raced forward, claws at the ready, aiming to rip the puny mortal before him into tiny little pieces. His sword long forgotten Naruto tore the Nin's left arm as he barely dodged the first strike. As another one was about to follow however, two beings materialized in front of him to grab his arms while throwing him to the dirt, holding their swords to his throat to halt the enraged Jinchuuriki in his tracks. Snarling, Naruto attempted to get up and instantly ceased all movement upon seeing whom it was holding him. His eyes returned to their normal cool blue as the red chakra encircling his body fluttered away with the wind. He visibly relaxed as both Konohamaru and Sasuke let go of his arms,

"What in the world are you? You can't be human! You're, you're a demon!" screamed Shinkai as he stepped back in fear, holding his left arm. Sasuke, enraged at the comment body flickered in front of the Nin and grabbed him by the throat with one hand as he started to squeeze, hard.

"Ungh! Le…let… me… go," coughed out the Nin as Sasuke's grip became tighter still,

"I need you to tell me something," said Sasuke quietly as he walked away from Konohamaru and Naruto.

"Ni-chan…"

"Don't ask," interrupted Naruto quickly as Konohamaru did not know the topic on the Kyuubi and its relation to his Ni-Chan at all. Naruto had vowed not to use that chakra again and yet he let his emotions get the better of him allowing Konohamaru to see him in his kyuubi enhanced state. Getting up Naruto looked to Konohamaru to see him with his head down as silent tears dribbled down his cheeks. Sighing mentally Naruto walked up and gave the young teen a hug, as Konohamaru leaned in slightly before wiping away his tears.

"I thought I told you…"

"…That emotions only get in the way of a Shinobi's life," interrupted Konohamaru this time with a sad smile on his face as he pulled back.

"That's right, so remember, always keep them in check." Naruto failed to mention that he himself had just let his emotions get the better of him which had led to the Kyuubi being able to gain control over his body somewhat after all that time Naruto spent trying to supress its chakra. As Naruto contiued to wallow is his own self defeat, Sasuke came walking back over to them with the head of the now dead missing Nin swaying by the hair in his hand.

"We're leaving Konohamaru," said Naruto as soon as he realised that Sasuke was there. He swiftly turned around to pick up his sword, sheathed it and begun a steady walk in the general direction of the town just as Sasuke reached Konohamaru. As Naruto walked off, Konohamaru bowed his head again as Sasuke suddenly realised what the young teen had been trying to ask him earlier,

"Hey kid, it's okay," said Sasuke placing his free hand on the young boy's shoulder, "I understand what you wanted me to do for you earlier now, and let me tell ya… just give him some space for now, he needs it." At Konohamaru's pleading look, he added quickly, "But not to worry, when I see you guys next time, I'll be sure to beat some sense into him for you okay?" At this Konohamaru raised his head and looked shocked for a second until it was replaced with a grateful smile and a nod of the head.

"Thank you Sasuke Ni-Chan," shouted Konohamaru as he ran towards the back of Naruto's head who was now nearing the outer buildings of the town.

Sasuke watched them go as many thoughts flashed through his mind, such as what had made Naruto so angry, how strong had he become without the Kyuubi's strength, why had he left the village he had sworn to protect and many more, until, finally only one stood out more than the others,

"Naruto… what have they done to you?"

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The next chapter will have some flashbacks perhaps so give me some reviews; I need people to tell me what they think. Although the hits have been a whopping 6000 for just 2 chapters, I need reviews for ideas, things for improvement and that sort of stuff so please share your thoughts. 


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